Great Literature Illustrated

[Janine]

I never knew there were artworks dedicated to books! (except for frontcovers) Thank you everyone for sharing!

Welcome to the thread, skasian.

Yes, indeed, there are many artworks to illustrate books. The Children's thread has so lovely examples as well; as does the Shakespeare. I hope you can check them all out soon. Maybe you can also add to any of these. Most of us found these examples online. If you need any help posting any, let me know or one could just provide a link to a site with the artwork.

Here is a link to some more of Rackham illustrations of "The Christmas Carol"...I can't copy the prints - they are marked with the person's name who made up this website. Nice site; you all might want to explore it further.

http://www.nocloo.com/gallery2/v/art...mas12.jpg.html

[skasian]

Oh I forgot Shakespeare illustrations, I promise to check it out. I am very unfamiliar to illustrated great literatures, so it would probably take me some time to search for them. I will google search them any how! I am already uploading some works done by artists that I favour, in the thread you have recommended "Your Favourite artists and painters" - I am loving that thread so much, it has so much varying diversity. I appreciate you for providing me a great opportunity to get to know more about art and illustration.

I am not sure if Alice in the wonderland is regarded as great literature, but it is one that springs in my mind when dealing with illustrated literature. I remember emulating cross sketching of these works back when I was at primary school, I think I still have them

[Janine]

I am not sure if Alice in the wonderland is regarded as great literature, but it is one that springs in my mind when dealing with illustrated literature. I remember emulating cross sketching of these works back when I was at primary school, I think I still have them

Hi again, skasian! Glad to see you here again and posting some interesting illustrations. Sometimes it is hard to figure out if the books are children's or adult's literature; some sort of border both. I do actually, think that "Alice in Wonderland" qualifies in either category and is indeed fine literature - how much more creative can one get? ...also it has held up for the 'test of time.'...classic like "Peter Pan". Besides, in these illustration threads, we are not that technical-minded. I recently bend the rules a bit at Christmas to post some Norman Rockwells with Santas...they were covers to magazine - hardly classic literature, although I think the Santa concept is as old as time and could be considered a major element is some literature. I think I did post some of Rackham's from "Alice in Wonderland." in one of the illustration threads - perhaps 'Childrens' - I will check today. If now I may have them ready to post. I have uploaded a number of illustration files to Photobucket; those are ready to go but the holidays held me up a bit.
I like the black/white examples you posted. So you did some drawings from those when in primary school; what a sweet remembrance.

[skasian]

That is so true, it is sometimes hard to allocate such books like this into a category belonging to the childrens or adult. Nevertheless, I dont think it will matter so much if the book inspires both the child or adult in any aspect.
Any way thanks for spending your time and effort for uploading so many outstanding works (same goes for darkmuse) I will be looking forward to speculate as well as uploading some more works soon!

[Janine]

That is so true, it is sometimes hard to allocate such books like this into a category belonging to the childrens or adult. Nevertheless, I dont think it will matter so much if the book inspires both the child or adult in any aspect.
Any way thanks for spending your time and effort for uploading so many outstanding works (same goes for darkmuse) I will be looking forward to speculate as well as uploading some more works soon!

skasian, Yes, I agree with your first paragraph...it is hard to draw a line between the two; so it hardly does matter at all which thread we post it in. Many adults read "Alice in Wonderland"...I believe there is a lot of hidden symbolism, even political references of the day, within the story.

You are welcome! I am so glad that you are enjoying these threads and the artwork; it is nice to have a new participant. That will great, if you can contribute from time to time. You need to watch for copyrighted pieces and ones with signature/site stamps on them. I avoid posting those; I don't want to get this site into trouble. It's ok in profile albums, I believe, but this part of the forum is actually public, except one has to sign-in to post comments, etc.

[skasian]

I never thought Alice in the wonderland would have political references.. all I can think of is monarchy and Feminism.. interesting.
I will be careful when posting up pictures, thanks for the tips!

Im not sure if Lord of the Rings is considered as Great Literature as it think it may sway more into fantasy side but finding some illustrations, I thought it was worth to be uploaded.

[Janine]

I own one of Alan Lee's books. The artwork is extraordinary. I like these examples very much skasian. I think it fits the category, since the book has been around awhile. It borders on fantasy art but I think Lee's artwork is classy enough to fit into this thread. Thanks for posting these. I like them a lot. It is nice to have another person posting in here and taking such keen interest. Thanks for taking the time.

[Caspa]

On the other end of illustration, I recently saw in Waterstone's that Marvel have transformed a handful of literary works into comic book form:

Kidnapped


The Last of the Mohicans


The Odyssey


(Apologies if images are too big, will happily resize if required)

[Dark Muse]

Love the Kidnapped illustration. I really enjoyed that story. And that is a really cool picture of it

Illustrated by Victoria Brurton

The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche

[Janine]

Welcome Caspa, to the forum and this thread. I like all three - think I like the first and second best. I liked the film "Last of the Mohicans". I only read his book -"Deerslayer"...I had hoped to continue with that series but went onto another author. I don't think your images are too large - they look great!

Anyway, good to see some new people in the illustration threads.

Dark Muse, I really like those a lot. I love the B/W ones - so graphic. I like the way the drawing is concentrated in areas and then a big space of white is left untouched to balance the picture - very elegant; nice linear quality. That last one is different looking and quite interesting.

[aBIGsheep]

Go read Fables.

It's a marvel comic, but it's one of the best stories I've ever had the pleasure of reading.




If anyone wants the online donwloads, I'd be happy to indulge them.

[Gustavo L.]

Great thread indeed, Janine.

Walter Crane illustrated Spenser's "The Faerie Queene" between 1849 and 1896. Here's one from the first book:



And here's one from the third:

[Janine]

Go read Fables.

aBIGsheep, I especially like that last one. Nice depiction of the faces. I like the way the hair on the creature dressed in red goes into the tree. I like the expression on the character's face holding the plate with the head on it. Do you know the artist of these covers/illustrations?

Quote by Gustavo L.

Great thread indeed, Janine.

Walter Crane illustrated Spenser's "The Faerie Queene" between 1849 and 1896. Here's one from the first book:

Gustavo L., nice to see you stop by; Glad you like the thread. There are two other threads, as well dealing with book illustration - Magical World of Children's and Shakespeare Illustrated. Hope you can stop by those two, and contribute something, as well. I love these by Walter Crane; it is always interesting to be introduced to a new illustrator...not sure I was familar with him before this.

Enjoy the previous entries, also....we have quite a few pages now of some great works.

Wow, interesting to see some newcomers all of a sudden. Welcome to all and hope you keep posting art for all to 'marvel' at...get the pun, aBIGsheep....?

[Gustavo L.]

Janine, I enjoyed them very much. I love Doré’s and Nielsen’s work. Harry Clarke is new for me. I found his art strikingly beautiful. Thank you, Dark Muse.
Skasian: that Turin Turanmbar looks great. I love the Silmarillion, too.

And I'm already seeing the other two threads -- thanks, Janine.

[aBIGsheep]

Fo sho mo. Nice to meet you Janine. Despite being a few months old and almost 300 posts in, it's pleasure, fo sure.

And if you're curious the cover art is by James Jean but he's leaving and Joao Ruas took his place issues 81+.

And it's not Marvel, my bad. It's actually Vertigo which is a subsidary of DC.